Opinion

Single stream landfill recycling continues in Morgan County

Morgan County landfill employee Abraham Guerrero sorts through a huge pile of cardboard looking for unacceptable materials such as this garbage bag.
(EMILY HERNANDEZ / SPECIAL TO THE TIMES)

Landfill assistant manager Cass Yearous watches as the last load of cardboard for the day is dumped off for sorting.
(EMILY HERNANDEZ / SPECIAL TO THE TIMES)

The Morgan County Landfill continues a single stream recycling program begun last July to service county communities.

The landfill has been recycling cardboard for two years and decided to implement single stream as a way to reduce excessive waste.

The program had 270 single-stream customers in 2012 and collected 6.24 tons of recyclable materials.

Single stream is a system in which papers, plastics, and metals are collected together in a single container and shipped to the landfill for separation.

Corrugated cardboard is collected separately, baled, and shipped through Waste Management of America. The landfill usually brings in 3 to 6 tons of cardboard a week from places like Jayna's Northern Star Meat Company, Wardcraft Homes, and the City of Brush.

Alberta Naill, left, 23-year landfill veteran manager, and assistant manager Cass Yearous collect and sort through around 12,000 pounds of cardboard in two hours.
(EMILY HERNANDEZ / SPECIAL TO THE TIMES)

"The cardboard doesn't bring in a whole lot of money, but it does help pay the utility bill," said Cass Yearous, assistant manager. Whatever money the landfill receives from the cardboard bales is split with the City of Brush and Waste Management to cover the cost of collection and retrieval.

"If any business wants to get rid of their clean cardboard for free, they should call me," said Yearous.

Acceptable items for the single stream program include: aluminum cans, clean foil pie plates, tin or steel cans that have been rinsed with the labels removed; plastic bottles, jugs, cups tray and containers that have been rinsed and have the lids and rings removed; paper bags, office paper, newspaper, magazines, catalogs, and phone books; and paperboard such as cereal boxes and paper towel rolls.

"The dumpsters with the yellow lids are for participating businesses and are for cardboard only. We have been finding a lot of garbage in those lately and it gets messy because we have to sort through it," says Naill.

She also asks that customers wanting to bring items to the landfill have the loads tarped and contained and that they call before they come.

The landfill is open 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-none Saturday. Any businesses interested in participating call Cass Yearous at (970) 867-9713.